The Arcana: Fragments

XX: The Sea & The Mountain

*Morga x Mazelinka Side Tale*

There were no stars out in the night sky, only a soft breeze that sent the wooden floors creaking and groaning all throughout the ship. I could get no rest with that damned noise. I'd rather be in the deepest depths of the woods, surrounded by the howls of wolves and the pounding of bears' feet than with these sounds of the sea.

There was a knock at the door. I did not answer.

I was in no mood for guests; this trip was but a necessity to get me to where I needed to be. "If you don't open this door, I will open it m'self!", a raspy, guttural voice came from the other end of the door. I, now bothered, kicked my feet off the desk I had previously been dozing on and sat up. I fixed my position on the wooden chair beneath me to that of facing the door and casually pointed my spear at the door, " Do it", I challenged, " It will be the last door you open".

A huff of disappointment was the reply, followed by the jingle of keys and the click of the door unlocking followed after that. It opened swiftly, tensing my grip on my spear further. My apprehension was diminished, however, by what came through the door; a stout middle aged woman who barely stood no higher than my rib cage, were I standing. The woman eyed the blade of my spear at her chest with a bored expression, flicking it aside with a wooden spoon she held. "Relax there, woman, I only brought you supper", the gray wisps of steam traveled over to my nostrils and I caught a whiff of the contents within the bowl in her hands. It smelled absolutely divine, otherworldly. My stomach growled loudly and filled the air, much to my dismay, I pursed my lips into a thin line of embarrassment.

Using her foot, the intruder swung an adjacent chair to the other end of the desk and sat the bowl and spoon in front of me before seating herself. "I knew you'd be hungry", she began, adjusting her sea-swept hair into an untidy braid. "This is not your room", I said, interjecting to her impulse to sit across from me. She scowled amusedly at me, "Aye, not my room, but my ship, that's for sure. I can go where I please, I know the skeleton of this wooden beast better than you ever will. Be grateful I even came through the door at all!"

It was my turn to scowl.

She laughed again, " Go on then, eat. I made sure to save you a bowl. You never did join for supper up on deck?" I leaned forward, sniffing - there was no scent of any poison I could trace through my magic, so I slowly began eating. The taste was better than any stag meat, any hares tail, and any bear claw I'd ever had. The meat in it was fish, but it tasted like the best salted beef and was bursting with flavor. I demanded to know what was put in this sludge immediately, the woman just raised her eyebrow and waited for the answer to her question instead.

"I had no interest to dine with you or any of the others on this ship", I stated.

"Well, the first few days I figured as much. You made quite a raucous with all the seasickness you got".

I pursued my lips again, remembering that awful feeling as the ship buoyed over another wave. "I take it you'd never sailed before?"

"I never had to".

"Hmph", the woman smirked, "Well, we've been on this ship for the better half of eleven days now, and we'll be docking into Vesuvia come next evening. Now, I always take it upon m'self to know the company aboard my ship, and you", she took out a wooden pipe and pouch of pungent tobacco, lazily tossing it onto the desk, "You, are the last guest that I've yet to meet. Rest assured, I care not if you're some killer or some run away with a dark past so I won't report you to any of those Vesuvian guards. All I ask is for some understanding. While the government there is pig shit, Vesuvia is and has been my home for many years, and I tend to take special notice of those I bring into it. Now, just who exactly am I bringing into my homeland?"

"Someone who doesn't plan on staying long", I growled.

She untied the tobacco pouch and began fixing the brown mess into her pipe, "Ah, but staying nonetheless. Let's start small, where are you from?"

"The South".

"Name?"

I paused, pondering over the risks there could be to revealing my name to her. Vesuvia knows nothing of me, Montag made sure of it, that I know. The woman noticed my pause as she was lighting a match at her boot heel, "Cautious, are we? Fair enough. I'm Mazelinka".

"Morga", I sighed, finding it difficult to get that out willingly.

"There's a start. What brings you to Vesuvia, Morga?"

"Unfinished business".

"Ohoho", Mazelinka chortled on laughter as smoke released from her nostrils. The scent of her tobacco was sweet and thick smelling, I hated it instantly. "So you're coming to kill someone, hm? You're traveling quite a long ways just to kill someone. Getting even on something? Stolen precious item? Broken heart?"

I thought a moment as I processed her assumptions. "All of that, actually", I said. Mazelinka stopped mid puff on her pipe, "My my", her eyes softened, "This must be quite personal". I grunted my response. I had already revealed too much. It was best to remain silent until this conversation was over.

"Let me take another guess?", Mazelinka rubbed her brow thoughtfully. I shrugged my approval.

"This has something to do with family", she announced. My eyes shot to hers and I gave her my best warning glare. Needless to say, it did very little to startle her, as she returned my gaze with the nonplussed glare from when I had my spear pointed at her. I smirked at her lack of fear towards me, very few people were this courageous. Montag included. "You have kids", Mazelinka continued, "This is about one of them, isn't it?"

Regretfully, I bowed my head. "Ahhh", she moaned in realization, as if things had suddenly become clear to her. "So, what'd they do exactly?" "Be born", I grumbled.

Mazelinka laughed, "Oh, come now. You're a mother, when it comes to your kids, there's little you can't forgive". "Perhaps. I'd already been forgiving him for his existence and all the years that he drew breath, he didn't ask to be born. But this? No, I can't forgive this. And so", I shifted my spear to lay across my lap, "I've come to take him out of this world the same way I brought him into it".

"If that's the case, this is certain to cause you great pain too?"

"On the contrary, his death will bring much pleasure and peace to me". Mazelinka sighed again, astonished, "What did this boy of yours do? I got children of my own - well, they're not mine, and I'm too old to be their mother, but they're my babes nonetheless - my point is; I'm certain there is nothing they could do, especially that boy Ilya, the scoundrel, that I couldn't eventually forgive".

"And what if that boy of yours knowingly made a pact with old, dark magic to kill you? And he knowingly murdered your partner as they slept and handed up their heart to that which had promised him fame and glory. What if he seeks out your heart as well? And after years of you hunting after that boy of yours, that precious little babe that once slept so peacefully in your arms and came to you for their every need, you finally find him. And, not only is he not dead, he now has everything he ever wanted, and you have nothing. What then do you do with the betrayal? What then do you do with the pain, with the shame, with yourself?" A single, stinging tear escaped my eye, I wiped it away angrily. Mazelinka was watching the floor, unmoving, lost in a trance at my words. "And what a waste this all would have been if he had just confessed then maybe I could've let him live. But that is not my son; he will never take responsibility for what he has done. So now I can't forget, and I can't forgive. I am his mother, it has to be me who does it".Snuffing out the embers in her pipe with her thumb, Mazelinka slowly rose and headed to the door. For a moment, I felt bad for overwhelming her with my story. "I hope you get what you really want out of this, Morga", she said, now in the doorway. "I plan to", I replied. She only nodded and gazed into my eyes one final time, searching for something that once again she would not reveal. "Come up on deck tomorrow for dinner", Mazelinka said. I smiled softly, acknowledging the fact that this was no longer a captain and a stowaway conversing but a mother addressing another mother. "Alright...sure".

[07.26.2019]